Dr. Gordon Balyeat was born in Michigan in 1911 and grew up in the small town of Sparta. He graduated from high school in 1928 and went to Kalamazoo College and the University of Michigan. Gordon attended college during the prohibition and the...

Thomas Basarabski was born in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. In an effort to avoid the draft, he joined the Navy in 1968. He served in Alaska, the Philippines and California as an intercept reader, working on Soviet communications.

This interview session recaps the first part of Bassett's tour in Vietnam, and then covers the second half, when he was a brigade-level staff officer in the 9th Division. Bassett supervised long range reconnaissance patrols, organized and ran a...

Richard Beimers was born in 1920 in Lowell, Michigan and spent his early life in the Grand Rapids, Michigan. After injuring his eye as a young person, Richard received a surgery that caused him to lose sight in his right eye. He was eventually...

During his military service, Laverne Bivens served in the 4th Regimental Combat team, which the Army had stationed in Alaska as part of the defense against a possible Soviet attack. Although he served during the latter part of the Korean war,...

Lamar Bloss grew up in northern Indiana and was drafted into the Army in 1952. He trained as an infantryman and was sent to Korea. He participated in heaving fighting in early 1953, including the action at Pork Chop Hill. After the armistice, he...

Bruce Brady was born in 1949 in Welch, West Virginia. His family was forced to relocate to North Carolina where he eventually graduated from high school in 1967. He was drafted on October 6, 1969 and was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and to...

Richard Brooks was born in Canton Township, Michigan. His father died when he was two years old, and his mother later remarried and the family moved to Grand Rapids. He graduated from Central High School in 1933 and joined the Navy in 1940 to...

Dick was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in December 1946. He grew up in Rockford, Michigan and graduated from high school there in 1965. After facing a certainty of being drafted, he instead chose to enlist in the United States Marine Corps in...

Douglas Buikema was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1946 and grew up in the area. After working for a year and going to college, he volunteered for the draft in 1967. In basic training at Ft. Knox, he became a squad leader and went to Ft....

David Cheeseman, of Martin, Michigan served in the Navy for 22 years, rising in ranks throughout his enlistment to become a Chief Officer. He enlisted in 1964, during the beginning of the Vietnam conflict. David trained as an aviation...

Demo Christopoulos is a World War II veteran who served in the Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 261st Infantry Regiment, 65th Division. He enlisted in the Army late in 1943, but did not go to Europe with his original training company because...

This interview provides a more complete account of Dr. Clark's experiences during the Battle of the Bulge than his original interview did. When the Battle of the Bulge began on December 16th, 1944, James Clark was serving as part of the medical...

Grand Valley State College president James Zumberge, head of the Dyer-Ives Foundation John Hunting, and GVSC academic vice-president George Potter (left to right) discuss plans for a series of tele-lectures to begin March 5, 1968.

Steve Collison was born in 1961 in Pontiac, Michigan and served in the Army starting in 1981. He had a troubled childhood, and joined the Army to get away from home. He served as a cook at bases in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Oklahoma. ...

Randal Cope was born into a lower-income family located in Wyoming, Michigan. He entered the United States Air Force at a young age in search of an employment opportunity. He was trained as a security officer, which also included police work. After...

Tony Cox was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on August 31st, 1949. He received basic training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky and AIT at Ft. Polk, Lousiana. He also went to NCO school in Ft. Benning Georgia. He was assigned to Delta Company, 1st of the 506. He...

Kolleen Crane is the widow of WW II veteran Richard Crane. In the interview she tells of being a telephone operator when Pearl Harbor was attacked. She met her husband at Midland (TX) Air Force base, where he served as a B-24 crew chief,...

Robert Davis worked as an engineer for Westinghouse and was a professor of engineering. Mr. Davis had degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Michigan. He was active in the public schools and was a local...

Albert Engel, son of U.S. congressman Albert J. Engel, served in the U.S. Army from February 1943 to April 1946 in the European Theater during World War II. During basic training, Albert applied for OCS school, but due to his young age did poorly,...